'Scrubs' Season Three

We're not suggesting that you lay out 40 bucks for 21 minutes or so of comedy, but there's one particular episode on the season three DVD set of "Scrubs" that's worth a good fraction of the retail price.

That would be "My Screwup," a February 2004 episode featuring guest star Brendan Fraser that plays a "Sixth Sense"-style mind game with the audience. But don't take our word for it:

"[The DVD set] has one of my favorite episodes on it, the one with Brendan Fraser," "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence says at a Las Vegas party celebrating the DVD release and the wrapping of the show's current season. "I think it's the best episode we've ever done of the show."

"My Screwup" is also emblematic of the way the show matured in its third season. Onscreen, J.D. (Zach Braff) and his fellow residents are a little more experienced on the job, and Turk (Donald Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes) get married. Creatively, season three also marked the time when "Scrubs" really hit a groove in balancing over-the-top jokes and effective drama.

It's also the season that other people at the hospital started to notice the Janitor (Neil Flynn), who previously had interacted almost exclusively with J.D.

"The thinking there was that if the show only lasted one year, the Janitor would have been fictional," Flynn says at the launch party at the Palms Hotel. "So that was good for me when I could interact with the other characters. It gave me more to do, more variety."

The DVD set is pretty well packed with extras, including two audio commentaries (though not, alas, on "My Screwup"), the usual deleted scenes and gag-reel footage, and several featurettes, ranging from an explanation of Elliot's (Sarah Chalke) early-season makeover to a piece on the various dogs that cast and crew members bring to the show's set, an abandoned L.A. hospital.

"The reason the show still survives is that we have a core group of fans that follows it everywhere," Lawrence says of the group he affectionately calls "our nerds." "So we really go to great lengths to do something extra. There are a lot of interviews, a lot of extras, so hopefully people that enjoyed the show before will enjoy the DVD."

Among the more entertaining extras is one called "Robert Keeps Talking." It's an interview with Robert Maschio, who plays oversexed surgical resident The Todd, who goes on at length about his association with Lawrence and his character.

As it turns out, Maschio can be chatty in person as well.

"I have a lot to say," Maschio says. "They all make fun of me on set, because I'll literally have like one line or two lines, and I'll always be in the corner practicing my lines. The thing is, they all have scenes, but I have to come in and nail a joke that one time.

"They make fun of me all the time for being a little too serious about my comedy, but I don't care. I'm the only one on national TV in a banana hammock, and it looks good."

So there you have it: Twenty-two episodes of fine comedy, a prolonged glimpse behind the scenes for serious fans, and a few minutes of unadulterated Todd. What's not to like?